Crazy Horse Volksmarch food drive collects 16 bins of donations for Rapid City families

Church members and volunteers participating in the 40th bi-annual Crazy Horse Volksmarch contributed to a meaningful act of mercy by helping collect 16 large bins of non-perishable food items for Rapid City families in need. The Care and Share food drive, organized during the event, gathered canned and dry goods from participants, which will be used to provide essential groceries to those facing food insecurity.

The collected donations were transported back to Rapid City to support Church Response, a local non-profit focused on emergency food assistance. Church Response Director Tina Neumann emphasized the importance of such community-driven collection efforts in sustaining the organization’s operations throughout the year. She noted that these donations enable the group to provide regular food distributions to families in need.

Neumann explained that Church Response typically distributes around 250 bags of groceries each week, with the food drive’s contribution being split between on-site storage and an off-site warehouse. The items collected from the Volksmarch will support approximately four months of distributions, as staff rotate through and use one full bin of goods per week.

The non-perishable items will be combined with fresh products and meat sourced through a partnership with Feeding South Dakota to create balanced food packages for recipients. This collaboration ensures that families receive nutritious and varied meals, reflecting the biblical call to care for one another in practical ways, as seen in Galatians 6:10.

Care and Share has hosted multiple major food drives annually, including the bi-annual Volksmarches at Crazy Horse Memorial and an annual Mother’s Day weekend collection at Reptile Gardens. Church Response is planning additional community fundraisers later this fall, such as a silent auction and concert in November, followed by a Christmas choral event in December.

Community members who were unable to participate in the weekend drive can still contribute by donating food directly to the Church Response building in Rapid City. The facility accepts non-perishable dry goods, refrigerated and frozen items, and monetary contributions, which help the team purchase discounted meats and staple goods to maximize family assistance. This ongoing support reflects the enduring call to love our neighbors as ourselves, as emphasized in Matthew 25:35.

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